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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · 13d

AU and NIRAS are monitoring the critically endangered Baltic harbour porpoise through the international project SAMBAH II 🌐🐬

Since last week, all equipment deployed in summer 2024 to log echolocation clicks from porpoises has been safely retrieved!

📷 captions for more details
sambah.org 🧪

'Crew on Skoven 2 hauling in scientific equipment after months at sea'
Static acoustic recorders (anchored to the seabed) listen for porpoise echolocation clicks. Very short, high-frequency sounds (around 130 kHz) the animals use for navigation and hunting.

'Line Khyn from NIRAS and Poul Boel Jørgensen from Aarhus University, Department of Ecoscience' Project is shared equally by Aarhus University & NIRAS. Together with partners across the Baltic: This is a large, international project (involving Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, and others) focused on monitoring the critically endangered Baltic Proper harbour porpoise population. It is funded by the Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation and the Danish Env. protection agency.

'Poul and Line holding CTD'
CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) casts are often made alongside acoustic deployments so researchers can link porpoise presence with environmental conditions.

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · 29d

www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

Starvation threshold and fasting endurance of right whales

Baleen whales undertake long-distance migrations to oligotrophic calving/breeding grounds during winter, where they fast for extended periods. This remarkable ability to endure prolonged...

www.int-res.com

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Sep 8

By being large and fat, baleen whales can endure long periods with little or no prey 🌐🌏🧪🌱

We found that:
🐋 A southern right whale in average condition could survive up to 17 months without feeding.
🐋 But a severely entangled North Atlantic right whale may only last about 50 days.

🔗 to paper:

www.int-res.com

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Sep 8

Our recent study in the #MarineEcologyProgressSeries
highlights how body size, condition, and human impacts shape the survival of right whales & why they are so vulnerable to prey limitation and disturbance 🐋

🔗 in thread

#Conservation #WhaleResearch #RightWhales #OceanHealth #MarineScience 🌐🌏🧪🌱

📸 Southern right whale: Fredrik Christiansen, Aarhus University
📸 North Atlantic right whale: Center for Coastal Studies, taken under NOAA permit #24359
👉 Link to paper: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v768/meps14914

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Sep 3

Here is the story covered by BBC w/ free access 🌏
@bbcscience.bsky.social

🌐🐋🐻‍❄️🧪

Polar bears are being poisoned by mercury dumped a century ago | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Toxic tides are delivering the dangerous pollutant to animals and people at the top of the world

www.sciencefocus.com

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Sep 3

New York Times article discusses @nature.com paper by our Rune Dietz, Christian Sonne, and others at @au.dk and the University of Copenhagen 🌐🐋🧪🌏

@newyorktimeshaiku.bsky.social @ucph.bsky.social
#Science #Research #impact #Mercury #Arcticchange

Study Shows Mercury Levels in Arctic Wildlife Could Rise for Centuries

www.nytimes.com

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Aug 29

Our Rikke on fieldwork in Maniitsoq, Greenland 🇬🇱
Collecting samples to study #genetics, #feedingecology, #reproduction, and the presence of pharmaceuticals & other
#persistentchemicals in harbour porpoises.

See photo captions and link for project details 🐬🌐

veluxfonden.dk/en/projekt/p... 🌱🌏

Rikke Guldborg Hansen is a senior advisor working from the marine mammal research team at AU. She is working on this project in collaboration with RUC and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

Rikke has a focus on Arctic marine mammals and the effects of anthropogenic and climatic changes. She is leading monitoring programmes and bridging gaps between scientific and local knowledge with respectful communication and public outreach. At AU she is advising for marine mammals in Danish waters. This includes work with Novana and the different advisory groups for marine mammals under Helcom, Ospar and Ices.

Photo taken by Rikke in Maniitsoq, August 2025

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Aug 14

Changes made by our *researchers are now recommended by The Taxonomy Committee of the Society for Marine Mammalogy.

*Anders Galatius, Morten Tange Olsen & Jakob Tougaard @au.dk , in collaboration with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and University of Copenhagen.

🌐🌏🐋🌱🧪

Society for Marine Mammalogy

The mission of the international Society for Marine Mammalogy is to promote the global advancement of marine mammal science and contribute to its relevance and impact in education, conservation and ma...

marinemammalscience.org

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Aug 14

We have redefined Dolphin Taxonomy 🐬

5 former Lagenorhynchus species have been reassigned to the new/revived and redefined genera:

Aethalodelphis, Leucopleurus & Cephalorhynchus

#marinemammalresearch #globalecology #marineecology
#cetaceans #research #genetics #science 🐋🌱🧪🌐🌏

Phylogenomic, morphological and acoustic data support a revised taxonomy of the lissodelphinine dolphin subfamily

The dolphin genus Lagenorhynchus has included six species of dolphins characterized by short, wide rostra. Genetic analyses have consistently found th…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jul 22

Watch a short clip of the retrieval of a DST tag from the sea at Fanø

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jul 22

We are underway with the retrieval of detached data storage tags in the #WaddenSea 🇩🇰🦭

See photo captions and previous posts on our page for the building of retrievable tags and their deployment
@au.dk

#Science #biomonotoring #research #marineecology #marinemammalreasearch 🌐

Deployment of satellite tags on animals has the advantage of the electronics doing the datasampling. Positions, dive depths and underwater 3D movements can be collected for days, weeks and even months.

In some cases larger data amounts are being sampled, and the amount of data is too large to transmit to a satellite. Instead, the floating tags need to be recovered after detaching from the animal.

Retrieving tags, unless they are being found by people on the beach, can be quite time-consuming. However, with the help from radio transmitters the access to important research data is a great reward for the invested time and logistics.

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jul 6

PhD student Emilie Stepien uses satellite tags, CATS Cams and drones to observe seal reactions to shipping in the Wadden sea 🇩🇰
Watch a pregnant seal reacting to a sea eagle caught on drone video 🦅🦭

@emstepien.bsky.social 🧪🌐

#Wildlife #WaddenSea #HarbourSeal #AnimalBehaviour #MarineEcology

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jul 3

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jul 3

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 30

Together with MSc student Oliver Nowak and local hunters, Fredrik Christiansen measured over 500 whales during March-June to investigate their prey consumption and condition.

Meanwhile, capturing jaw dropping wildlife footage 📷

🌐🌏🐋🧪

#marinemammology #ecology #cetaceanresearch
#Arctic #MarineEcology #Research
#Science

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 30

Our Senior Researcher Fredrik Christiansen recently completed the third photogrammetry field season on bowhead whales in Disko Bay, Greenland. See Thread.

🌐🌏🐋🧪

@FChristiansen.bsky.social

#marinemammology #ecology #cetaceanresearch
#Arctic #MarineEcology #Research
#Science

Our Senior Researcher Fredrik Christiansen completed the third photogrammetry field season on bowhead whales in Disko Bay, Greenland. Together with MSc student Oliver Nowak and local hunters, he measured over 500 whales during March to June to investigate their prey consumption and condition.

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 28

Awesome work Emily

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 26

A large contribution from our section with co-authors: Morten Tange Olsen, Jonas Teilmann, Rune Dietz and Anders Galatius

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 26

🔊 Presenting the first range-and genome-wide population genomic analysis of grey seals! 🦭🌐

3812 nuclear SNPs genotyped in 188 samples from 17 sites identified 6 distinct populations and historic bottlenecks with ongoing recovery effects 🧪🌊 @au.dk

doi.org/10.1111/mec....

#Science #marineecology

Grey seal pup photographed in Southern Denmark 2025, AU Ecoscience.

Fig. Connectivity and diversity of grey seals inferred from (A) effective migration parameter (Nm) assessed with divMigrate and (B) genetic diversity estimated as the proportion of heterozygous sites per individual. The legend indicating the sampling locality region is applicable to both subplots. The arrow weight legend for Nm indicates the relative strength of effective migration. Black arrows indicate effective migration between different regions while effective migration within a region is coloured according to the region.

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 26

we would like to be added to the feed thank you!

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Reposted by Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience

Emily T Griffiths @emilytgriffiths.com · Jun 26

This week I'm out in the Danish #BalitcSea on the #SAMBAHII Project, working to monitor the remaining 500 Baltic #harborporpoise. Here, we are deploying a 4-channel array to calculate the #dectectionFunction, or the likelihood of detecting porpoise #echolocation in the study area.

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · Jun 12

🔊Paper out today with @nature.com!

Despite decreasing emissions 🌏 mercury levels are rising in some species. Hg Isotopes could reveal why.

Our new research shows ocean currents, may now be the main source of mercury in Arctic ecosystems. 🌐🧪🐻‍❄️🐋 @au.dk

#Arctic #Mercury #Greenland #MarineEcology

Stable isotopes unveil ocean transport of legacy mercury into Arctic food webs - Nature Communications

Mercury pollution in the Arctic has reached toxic levels. Here, the authors compile mercury isotope data from peat and aquatic predator species collected across Greenland over the past 40 years, obser...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience

Pedro Oliveira @pedrolivei.bsky.social · Jun 6

After months of hard work, I finally submitted my master’s thesis! 🥳 Super proud of our work and deeply grateful to my supervisors Frants and Jeanne, and the whole @marinemammalsau.bsky.social team for being family during this time. Now fingers crossed for the defense! 🤞
#marinemammals #bioacoustics

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Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience @marinemammalsau.bsky.social · May 28

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Reposted by Marine Mammal Research at Aarhus University, Ecoscience

Jacob Nabe-Nielsen @jacobnabe.bsky.social · May 25

🔊 Breaking news on foraging plasticity: Bryde's whales can decide to interrupt ongoing feeding for different reasons🐋🐟👀... Find out more on one of my PhD chapters we just published on Ethology Ecology & Evolution. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
@marinemammalsau.bsky.social 🧪

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